Question

How are social media and data analytics used to address the coronavirus pandemic?

describe and give your opinion on this approach.

PS: I would appreciate it if the answer is detailed because this is a very sensitive topic I'm dealing with and I hope you could show me the big picture.

Much appreciated and thanks

Answer 1

Answer: One of the biggest advantages that we have today in the fight against coronavirus pandemic is the presence of social media, Big data and high level of other technologies which will help authorities collect and disseminate accurate information regarding Covid-19.

Talking about how data analytics is being used to address this coronavirus pandemic, we have numerous examples which has proved the importance of data analytics in combating the spread of covid 19. The country which has used data analytics in combating the spread of this disease is Taiwan. It was estimated that Taiwan is going to be badly hit by covid 19 due to its proximity with china but Taiwan used a robust pandemic plan which was created at the time of 2003 SARS outbreak to reduce the impact of virus. Taiwan integrated the national health insurance database with immigration and customs database to identify people who have a travel history to any hotspot country. As a result, Taiwan only reported close to 50 cases around mid march whereas its neighbour " South korea" reported close to 8000 cases. China's survelliance culture proved helpful in maintaining a close watch on people who are not adhering to goverment's orders of home quarantine. China has also used thermal scanners to detect elevated body temperature which is a crucial symptom of covid 19 disease. The chinese goverment also rolled out an app called " close contact detector" that sends alerts if a person has come in contact with anyone who had the virus. India also launched a similar app called " Arogya setu".

- Use of robots to perform various activities like sterilizing, delivering food and medicine to patients. Robots are not susceptible to the virus which is why they are being deployed to eliminate and reduce the amount of human-to- human contact. Robots are not the substitute for healthcare workers but use of robots help healthcare workers concentrate on other major tasks like testing for covid 19 patients and analysing the tests results.

- Drones are used for the quick and safe delivery of medical supplies.

- Dashboards: Dashboards help in gathering data from around the globe to show accurate number of confirmed cases and deaths. This data is highly useful in predicting next hotspots for the covid 19 disease and this way, help in slowing the community transmission.

Now, Talking about social media:

During 1918 flu pandemic which was responsible for eradicating close to 1/3 of europe's population, we did not have the same sources of communication as we have now ìn the 21st century.

Social media firms like facebook and twitter are taking serious measures to combat the spread of covid 19 disease which is crucial at a time when public is highly susceptible to false claims. Twitter is banning any tweets that could impact the spread of virus. Instagram is promoting the self -isolation practice during this pandemic with # stayhome stickers.

Social media is a great platform to bring and spread positivity at this time of crises. The ability to share information with your closed ones helps in combating emotional isolation. Snapchat has launched a " Mental health resource" to spread awarness various mental health problems related to covd 19.